CORNER CONNECTION BRACKET FOR SOLAR ENERGY PANELS
Solar panel connection assemblies for mounting solar energy panels to buildings as well as for affixing multiple solar energy panels together. Solar panel corner connection assemblies including a bracket that can be fastened to the corner edge of solar panel frames. Solar panel corner connection assemblies including flanges extending from the corner of a bracket for connecting with a neighboring flange on a neighboring bracket.
The present application is claiming priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/930,420 entitled “CORNER CONNECTION BRACKET FOR SOLAR ENERGY PANELS”, filed on Jan. 22, 2014, the content of which is herein incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to solar panel assemblies and more specifically to solar panel corner connection assemblies.
2. Introduction
Solar energy panels are becoming more popular as a means to produce electricity. In many scenarios, the solar energy panels are installed on a framed structure such as a building rooftop. Some existing attempts at mounting solar energy panels to a rooftop have required a long beam of metal, often called a rail, that is used to structurally support multiple solar energy panels together and to structurally connect the solar energy panels to the greater building or structure.
SUMMARYAdditional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or can be learned by practice of the herein disclosed principles. The features and advantages of the disclosure can be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and other features of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or can be learned by the practice of the principles set forth herein.
As explained above, known methods of installing solar panels require a large amount of time and excessive amounts of material. Accordingly, the present technology involves connection assemblies for solar panels that address the deficiencies in the known art. Some embodiments of the present technology involve connection assemblies for mounting solar energy panels to buildings as well as for affixing multiple solar energy panels together. The connection assemblies of the present technology reduce material while maintaining the requisite structural integrity of a system of solar panels.
Some embodiments of the present technology involve solar panel connection assemblies that include a bracket having two arms that can be fastened to the corner edge of solar panel frames. The bracket can also include a flange extending from the corner where the arms intersect and the flange can connect with a neighboring flange on a neighboring bracket.
In some cases, the flanges are configured to mate with a neighboring flange on a neighboring bracket simply by fastening neighboring brackets to solar panel in an upside-down orientation. The flange can take up a first one-half of the height of the bracket, thereby allowing the flange to mate another flange on a neighboring bracket in an upside-down orientation. The flange can also take up a first one-quarter and a third-one quarter of the height of the bracket, thereby allowing the flange to mate another flange on a neighboring bracket in an upside-down orientation. The flange can also take up a second one-third of the height of the bracket thereby allowing the flange to mate with an additional bracket with a flange that can take up a first one-third and a third one-third of the height of the second bracket, thereby allowing the flange of the first bracket to mate between the two flanges of the second bracket.
In some embodiments, the flanges also include an aperture that align with a neighboring aperture, such that a pin can secure the neighboring solar panels
In some embodiments, the bracket includes surface features and underside features such the bracket can nest with other stacked brackets, thereby allowing solar panels using the corner brackets to be securely stacked. Likewise, a packing rod can be placed through the aligned bracket apertures in a stack of nesting solar panels.
The corner connection bracket of the present technology can also be installed within a frame chamber of solar panel frame members, thereby joining the frame members and creating a corner of a solar panel frame.
Some embodiments of the present technology involve using solar panel connection assemblies to support frameless solar panels and secure neighboring connection assemblies together. In some cases, the connection assemblies include a pair of subassemblies with reverse-oriented configurations to allow mating between neighboring solar panels. The subassemblies can include a plate to provide structural support to the solar panel and a flange extending from the subassembly for coupling with a reverse-oriented flange of a neighboring subassembly.
In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and other advantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a more particular description of the principles briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principles herein are described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
Various embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail below. While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understood that this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components and configurations may be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
The present disclosure addresses the need in the art for solar panel connection assemblies that avoid installation that requires a large amount of time and excessive amounts of material and that are stackable.
The present technology involves corner connection brackets for solar energy panels that provide a structural mounting point to connect the solar energy panel to another solar energy panel. For example, one corner connection bracket can be installed on each of the four corners of a solar energy panel. A wide variety of corner connection brackets can be used to accomplish the various advantages of the disclosed technology, as explained in greater detail below.
The corner connection brackets can be installed on solar panels in a wide variety of ways. For example, the corner connection brackets can be installed outside of a frame of a solar energy panel, within a cavity of the frame, on the inside of the frame, mechanically or adhesively connected directly to the solar energy glass or back sheet, or any combination thereof
The corner connection brackets of the present technology are installed to the solar energy panel with minimal to no change in the current assembly method and/or current designs of frames or laminates (i.e. glass and solar cells) of the solar energy panels. The corner connection brackets are strong enough to transfer loads from one or more adjacent solar energy panels to a first solar energy panel support in use. The disclosed corner connection brackets and the frames of the solar energy panels provide the necessary structural support to mount the solar energy panels to a structure or building rooftop. In some cases, the corner connection brackets themselves are used as a structural element to directly mount one or more solar energy panels to a structure or building rooftop.
The corner connection bracket 101 may connect to a solar panel frame member 102 with fasteners 104. For example, there can be one or more fasteners 104 on each arm 103 to securely connect corner connection bracket 101 to the solar panel frame member 102 and to secure the solar energy panel 100.
In some embodiments, the corner connection bracket includes one or more protruding flange extending away from outside corner of bracket that is configured to mate with a neighboring flange. In some cases, the flanges are designed such that a first corner connection bracket in one orientation would seat within the flanges of a second corner connection bracket in a second orientation, e.g. an upside-down orientation.
The corner connection bracket 101 of
The thickness of each flange 105 and flange void 106 is designed such that the flanges and flange voids of a second corner connection bracket with an upside-down orientation would mate with a first corner connection bracket 101. For example, as shown, the flange 105 is configured on a first one-quarter of the height of the arms 103 and on a third one-quarter of the height of the arms, thereby allowing the to mate with a neighboring similarly configured flanges in an upside-down orientation. Likewise, the solar energy panel 100 of
As explained above, the flanges 105 can include an aperture 107 configured such that the apertures of adjacent flanges align to accept and be securely held together with a fastener, such as a bolt, screw, pin, or similar device. The apertures can be substantially cylindrical in shape, substantially conical in shape, or substantially rectangular in shape. The apertures can be partially threaded to accept a screw thread, or may be substantially smooth, and may accept a standard size fastener. The apertures in the corner connection brackets can be used to attach accessories, such as a micro-inverter, electrical grounding lug, weather meter, spare parts, wire management clips, or similar. The apertures can also act as alignment guide during installation of the corner connection brackets onto a solar energy panel and can act as a lift or hoist point for transporting, lifting, and moving solar energy panels from one location to a different location.
The flanges can also be designed to protrude from the corner connection bracket at an angle sufficient to allow a pair of solar panels, coupled using the corner connection brackets, to rotate in a wide arc with respect to the other solar panel. For example, the flanges can include an aperture for allowing rotatable connection between two solar panels and the flanges may be disposed at a particular (e.g. 135°) angle with respect to the sides of the solar panel, thereby allowing a second solar panel to rotate from substantially 180-degrees to a second position.
For example, the flanges 105 in
The hinge bolt 202 also acts as an axis of rotation for second solar energy panel 200 relative to first solar energy panel 100, thereby allowing first corner connection bracket 101 and second corner connection bracket 201 to be aligned and hinge bolt 202 to be installed before having to align any subsequent edges or corners of first solar energy panel 100 and second solar energy panel 200.
The corner connection brackets at the top of both solar energy panels have opposite orientations relative to corner connection brackets on the lower corners of their respective solar energy panels.
According to various embodiments of the present technology, the corner connection brackets can be coupled to solar panels and solar panel frames in a vide variety of ways. For example,
The arms 303 may substantially snugly fit, or may substantially loosely fit within frame chamber 303. The corner connection bracket 101 may be secured to frame 302 with one or more fasteners, a press fit, a swedge, welded, glued, bonded, or some other suitable securement method. Additionally, a notch 304 in the frame 302 accommodates the form factor of the flanges 306 and allows the flanges 306 to protrude outside the outer surface of frame 302 members when the arms 303 are inserted into the frame chambers 305.
Some embodiments of the present technology involve using solar panel connection assemblies to support frameless solar panels and secure neighboring connection assemblies together. In some cases, the connection assemblies include a pair of subassemblies with reverse-oriented configurations to allow mating between neighboring solar panels. The subassemblies can include a plate to provide structural support to the solar panel and a flange extending from the subassembly for coupling with a reverse-oriented flange of a neighboring subassembly.
Flanges can be supported by a flange bracket coupled with the plate and can be offset from the plate by a degree substantially equal to the thickness of a solar panel, thereby allowing the corner of a solar panel to nest on the plate and be supported the flange bracket.
A flange can be configured on a first one-half of the height of a flange bracket and a neighboring flange can be disposed in a second one-half of the height of a paired flange bracket, thereby allowing the flanges to mate when the corners of neighboring solar panels are brought together.
Similarly, in a first subassembly, a first flange can be configured on a first one-quarter of the height of a flange bracket and a second flange is configured on a third one-quarter of the height of the flange bracket. In the in a neighboring subassembly, a first paired flange can be configured on a third one-quarter of the height of a paired flange bracket and a second paired flange is configured on a fourth one-quarter of the height of the paired flange bracket, thereby allowing the flanges to mate when the corners of neighboring solar panels are brought together.
In some other embodiments, the flange can also take up a second one-third of the height of the bracket thereby allowing the flange to mate with an additional bracket with a flange that can take up a first one-third and a third one-third of the height of the second bracket, thereby allowing the flange of the first bracket to mate between the two flanges of the second bracket.
Although various configurations of mating flanges are described explicitly, those with ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure will readily appreciate that a wide variety of mating flange configurations are possible to accomplish the novel aspects of the technology.
The corner connection bracket 601 can include arms 606, 606′ that can provide the sub-assembly extra support. The arms can be disposed at a substantially right angle and can be offset from the plate by a degree substantially equal to the thickness of a solar panel.
Additionally, the corner connection bracket 601 can have a static or dynamic clamp mechanism that grips the edge of the solar energy laminate 603. The grips can provide substantially enough surface area on the top and or bottom surfaces of the grip to sufficiently transfer forces and moments from the solar energy laminate 603 to the corner connection bracket 601.
In some embodiments, a pair of corner connection brackets 601 are configured with flanges having an opposite orientation for allowing neighboring corner connection brackets 601 to mate. Similarly, a frameless solar panel can be configured with corner connection brackets 601 with a first orientation on the first set of diagonally related corners and corner connection brackets 601 with an opposite orientation on the second set of diagonally related corners.
The corner connection brackets of the present technology provide structural support to solar panels and to adjacently connected solar panels. Additionally, the corner connection brackets can provide advantages in the installation process by allowing the solar panel frames (and solar panels in the case of frameless solar panels) to rotate to multiple positions and orientations relative to other solar panels.
Some embodiments of the present technology involve corner connector assemblies and corner connector brackets that are configured such that the solar panels and solar panel frames connected thereto are stackable for easy storage, shipment, loading, hoisting etc. For example, the corner connector assemblies and corner connector brackets can have surface features that nest with corresponding underside features of an additional flange stacked upon it. Similarly, the apertures in the corner connector bracket flanges can align when stacked, thereby allowing a packing rod to be inserted through a series of stacked corner bracket connectors.
As mentioned above, a wide variety of corner connection brackets can be used to accomplish the various advantages of the disclosed technology. Various corner connection bracket can have various dimensions, nesting features, flange configurations, etc. For example, the flanges can have surfaces substantially parallel to the plane of the solar energy panel, or the flanges may have surfaces set at some angle relative to the horizontal. In some cases, the flanges may be shaped such that when compressed together orthogonally relative to solar energy panel, adjacent corner connection brackets and their respective solar energy panels are drawn together. In some embodiments, the flanges may be horizontally and/or vertically oriented.
The corner connection brackets of the present technology can be manufactured out of a metal, such as aluminum or stainless steel, or out of a composite material, such as fiberglass, fiber reinforced plastic, other composites, etc. In some embodiments, the corner connection brackets may be manufactured using an extrusion process and may have subsequent milling operations in to create any necessary grooves, apertures, flanges, etc.
In some cases, the corner connection piece may act as an electrical grounding path between solar energy panels and other accessories, thereby eliminating the need for an installed array of solar energy panels to have a grounding wire installed and reducing overall installation time and reducing material costs for the solar array.
Some embodiments of the present technology involve assembling an array of solar energy panel array by using the corner connection brackets with two or more solar energy panels prior to final installation on a structure or building rooftop. In some cases, two or more solar energy panels may be connected together on a building rooftop, in a staging area on the ground near the building rooftop, or at an offsite location, all prior to final installation, thereby allowing for the work to prepare the building rooftop and the work of connecting and wiring some or all of the solar energy panels to occur in parallel. In some cases, two or more solar energy panels may be connected and wired together into a sub-array and hoisted or lifted as a single unit onto the building rooftop or structure.
The various embodiments described above are provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize various modifications and changes that may be made to the principles described herein without following the example embodiments and applications illustrated and described herein, and without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
Claims
1. A solar panel connection assembly comprising:
- a bracket having a first arm and a second arm disposed at a substantially right angle to one another; and
- a flange extending from the bracket substantially at an outside corner of the substantially right angle, wherein the flange is configured to mate with a neighboring similarly-configured flange on an neighboring bracket in an upside-down orientation.
2. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 1, wherein the flange further includes an aperture disposed in a direction orthogonal to a plane defined by the first arm and second arm, wherein the aperture is configured to align with a neighboring aperture on a neighboring similarly-configured flange on an neighboring bracket in an upside-down orientation.
3. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 1, further comprising:
- a pin configured to be installed in the aperture and neighboring aperture when the flange is mated with a neighboring similarly-configured flange.
4. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 1, wherein the first arm and second arm are each configured to align with a respective corner edge of a solar panel frame.
5. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 1, wherein the first arm and second arm each include at least one fastener hole disposed therein.
6. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 5, wherein the at least one fastener hole disposed in the first arm and second arm are configured to accept a threaded fastener.
7. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 1, wherein the an electrical bonding path is created between adjacent solar energy panels when the bracket of one solar energy panel is mated with the bracket of a second solar energy panel.
8. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 1, wherein the first arm and second arm are each configured to fit within a frame chamber of a first frame member and a second frame member, respectively, thereby joining the first frame member and second frame member and creating a corner of a solar panel frame.
9. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 1, wherein the flange is configured on a first one-half of the height of the intersection of the first arm and the second arm, thereby allowing the flange to mate with a neighboring similarly configured flange on a neighboring bracket in an upside-down orientation.
10. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 1, further comprising:
- an additional flange having substantially the same shape as the flange and extending from the bracket in substantially the same orientation,
- wherein the flange is configured on a first one-quarter of the height of the intersection of the first arm and the second arm and the additional flange is configured on a third one-quarter of the of the height of the intersection of the first arm and the second arm, thereby allowing the flange and additional flange to mate with a pair of neighboring similarly-configured flanges on a neighboring bracket in an upside-down orientation.
11. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 1, wherein the bracket further comprises surface features and underside features such that the underside features of a bracket nests in the surface features of an additional bracket stacked upon the bracket.
12. A solar panel connection assembly comprising:
- a first frameless solar panel connection subassembly comprising: a first plate configured to provide structural support to a corner of a first solar panel; and a first flange bracket coupled with the first plate and including a first flange extending from an outside corner of the first plate; and
- a paired frameless solar panel connection subassembly comprising: an additional plate configured to provide structural support to a corner of a neighboring solar panel; and a paired flange bracket coupled with the first plate and including a paired flange extending from an outside corner of the additional plate,
- wherein the first flange and the paired flange are configured to mate when the corners of the first solar panel and the neighboring solar panel are brought together.
13. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 12, wherein the first flange is configured on a first one-half of the height of the first flange bracket, and wherein the paired flange is configured on a second one-half of the height of the paired flange bracket, thereby allowing the first flange and the paired flange to mate when the corners of the first solar panel and neighboring solar panel are brought together.
14. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 12,
- wherein the first flange bracket further includes a second flange, wherein the first flange is configured on a first one-quarter of the height of the first flange bracket and the second flange is configured on a third one-quarter of the height of the first flange bracket,
- wherein the paired flange bracket further includes an additional paired flange, wherein the paired flange is configured on a second one-quarter of the height of the paired flange bracket and the additional paired flange is configured on a fourth one-quarter of the height of the paired flange bracket, thereby allowing the first flange and the paired flange to mate when the corners of the first solar panel and neighboring solar panel are brought together.
15. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 12, wherein the first flange further comprises an aperture disposed in a direction orthogonal to a plane defined by the plate, wherein the paired flange further comprises an paired aperture disposed in a direction orthogonal to a plane defined by the additional plate, and wherein the first aperture and paired aperture align when the corners of the first solar panel and neighboring solar panel are brought together.
16. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 15, further comprising:
- a pin configured to be installed in the aperture and paired aperture when the corners of the first solar panel and neighboring solar panel are brought together.
17. The solar panel connection assembly of claim 12, wherein the first plate and the additional plate are offset within the first flange bracket and paired flange bracket respectively, by a degree substantially equal to the thickness of a solar panel.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 21, 2015
Publication Date: Jul 23, 2015
Patent Grant number: 10024580
Inventors: Erich Kai Stephan (Newport Beach, CA), Glenn Harris (Sausalito, CA)
Application Number: 14/602,045